looking at a boxster to buy

[Taildraggerp]

Im looking at a red 2002 boxster s to buy on eBay in orlando. fl. can someone a little more experience than myself look at the car and tell me your opinion. Was last sold at auction is that a red flag , also being sold by a dealer florida is that a red flag also?its almost too perfect for a car that old . thanks eBay item 124066002748.

[husker boxster]

Nice looking car from the pics. A couple of items:

The ad says 'no IMS issues'. What does that mean? Unless there is documentation that it's been changed, those are hollow words. Just b/c there are no IMS issues today doesn't mean an original bearing won't have trouble tomorrow. Not going to open the IMS can of worms, but worth checking if the IMS has been changed or not. Then you decide how that affects you. But it will cost at least $2K to change it.

An 02 is a less favorable yr just because the 03 had great improvements - a glass rear window and a glove box. The top on this one looks very nice, but it looks like it has the plastic rear window, which means you may have to do the 'chop' to get it to fold right when putting it down. So an 02 is less desirable because if you're spending the $$$ for an 02, you might as well chip in a few more and buy an 03.

They list their KBB price comparison but the value is highly inflated because of the mileage. It has a tip, which may be what you want, but a tip is $2-3K less than a manual (PDK is a diff story). Their value is at least $2K too high and that's NOT taking the IMS into consideration. A 60K mi car would be sev $1Ks less and could be in just as good of condition.

Final thought. If this is exactly the car for you and you've been looking for a long time and know what you want, then don't worry about spending a bit more for it. I know this is counter to what I just told you, but if you get the exact car you're looking for, you'll forget you paid $1-2K more for it due to the fun it provides. I paid close to retail on my 08 Cayman S Sport when I bought it in 2012 and have never regretted it.

[maytag]

Husker is right on the money.

The only thing I would add is that I don't see 42k miles as a benefit on the plus side. These cars seem to do better when they're driven regularly. Now having said that, this one to seems to have covered around 8k miles in the last 3 years; that might be enough miles to assure that everything is currently working. Or you might get the car and find out that the seats that look nice in the photos are in fact hard and dry. You see where I'm going.
Otherwise, that car looks very nice.
And this, below, might be the best buying advice I've ever seen on this forum:

Originally Posted by husker boxster

Final thought. If this is exactly the car for you and you've been looking for a long time and know what you want, then don't worry about spending a bit more for it. I know this is counter to what I just told you, but if you get the exact car you're looking for, you'll forget you paid $1-2K more for it due to the fun it provides.

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[BrantyB]

Originally Posted by husker boxster

Nice looking car from the pics. A couple of items:


They list their KBB price comparison but the value is highly inflated because of the mileage. It has a tip, which may be what you want, but a tip is $2-3K less than a manual (PDK is a diff story). Their value is at least $2K too high and that's NOT taking the IMS into consideration. A 60K mi car would be sev $1Ks less and could be in just as good of condition.

100%

If you are looking for this build car, they are not unique and tiptronic drops the value. I'm assuming you are not local and able to see the car in person. Personally, I think you would be better off finding something that you can see & touch if you're concerned.

[jcp]

All the above suggestions are on the money. Keep in mind that the price you pay is not what the car will actually cost to be driven with some confidence. I recently purchased a '99 base 5 speed model that was in essentially the same condition as this car is advertised as being. I have spent about $2000.00 (so far) and lots of man-hours since purchasing to bring the car to a known maintenance level. Consider what condition the fluids, filters, interior, brakes, top, tires, etc. are actually in.
The car looks like an excellent candidate to be dependable driver.

[por356c]

You don't get better advice from anyone than you will from Husker. He is the best. I happen to know this dealer - I visited his shop in Orlando and almost bought a car from him last November. I did not buy it because it just wasn't the right car for me. It was exactly as advertised though. The dealer is a very honest, pleasant guy. But, like all dealers, he won't likely have any maintenance history, unless it's something he has done. Maintenance history is the biggie IMO, second only to the IMS being addressed and documented and/or accounted for in the purchase price. It's pretty likely that the car is going to be very nice. But, lots of things to check out! If you want to discuss this dealer in more detail, PM me with your phone number and name and I will call you back. Good luck.

[mikefocke]

Nice service history for the first 15 or so years. No CarFax record of service last few years. No sign of IMS work on CarFax. No LN sticker. No information on what dealer service was done by the seller.

Updated radio.

No details on tires age or condition or brand. No details on brake pad or rotors measurements. Original AOS, water pump, age of battery, would be things I would ask about.

Very nice looking in cop catcher red. (My first 3 sports cars were red and I was always one ticket away from losing my license. So I can say from experience...)

I sold a '01S with low miles in good shape in '12 for about the same price. I don't think it was as detailed (nice looking) as this one. But the buyer got the documentation of maintenance (as well as a Xerox book of additional Boxster docs), the owner's reason for selling and the owner's walk around to help him know the car was no lemon. He bought my car because he wanted to buy from a Porsche fanatic.

When I bought mine, it took about $3k in the first month to do 4 tires, 4 corners worth of brakes, alignment, 90K service just to bring it up to my maintenance standards. I might add another $1k to redo the top with a glass window replacement top.